OTTAWA —The Senate spending scandal deepened Tuesday with criminal charges against former Conservative senator Patrick Brazeau and former Liberal senator Mac Harb, prompting the prime minister to hail an RCMP probe that may well cause him more political damage.

Assistant RCMP Commissioner Gilles Michaud said the Mounties have charged Brazeau (a Harper appointee, now suspended) and Harb (now retired) separately with one count of breach of trust and fraud. He said the charges arise out of the year-long investigation into their housing and living expenses, but didn’t elaborate.

The RCMP says it did not have enough evidence to pursue charges related to allegations it previously outlined that Harb may have committed mortgage fraud.

Michaud said the RCMP continues to investigate “other significant files” — signalling the criminal probe into expenses claimed by two other high-profile Stephen Harper appointees, Pamela Wallin and Mike Duffy, is ongoing.

An RCMP inquiry continues into circumstances surrounding a gift by Nigel Wright, the prime minister’s former chief of staff, to Duffy of $90,000 to cover Duffy’s inappropriately claimed expenses. The RCMP has said it is looking at whether this amounted to fraud, breach of trust and bribery — an explosive theory that has not yet led to charges.

Wright resigned when the payment became public, and stated his actions were intended to ensure the taxpayer was not on the hook for Duffy expenses.

Nevertheless, the formal filing of Criminal Code charges was a significant shift in the Senate story that has dominated the federal political scene for more than a year. Hours after the news broke, a somber Harper offered “congratulations” to the RCMP in the House of Commons.

“We expect all parliamentarians to respect the rules and respect the law and if they do not, there will be consequences,” Harper said. “We obviously salute and acknowledge the work of the RCMP on these particular cases.”

The official Opposition traced the scandal to the prime minister’s political judgment in “naming senators from places where they didn’t even live,” in the words of NDP Leader Tom Mulcair.

Mulcair reveled in news that now touched both Liberal and Conservative parties, saying it “concentrated Canadians’ mind on the wisdom of the NDP approach: get rid of the Senate, abolish it.”

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau downplayed his original suggestion last year that Harb might one day return to caucus, arguing he had urged the RCMP to investigate, and pointing to the move last week to eject senators from the Liberal caucus in a bid to eliminate partisanship in the upper chamber.

But long before that, Harb — a Jean Chrétien appointee — had quit the Liberals. After first denying wrongdoing, Harb repaid more than $230,000 — the amount of overpayments he’d received from the Senate in the past eight years — and abruptly retired in August, retaining his pension.

Tuesday, Harb’s lawyer Sean May said the retired senator was pleased a mortgage fraud allegation was dropped, but “disappointed” any charges were laid. Harb, he said, would plead not guilty. “It’s always been our position that there’s no illegality, period.”

Brazeau, a one-time high-profile aboriginal leader and darling of the Conservative’s push on aboriginal files, issued no statement immediately. He remains a senator but was suspended along with Wallin and Duffy by a vote last November that stripped them of their salaries and Senate resources, leaving them only with health and life insurance, for now. Brazeau also faces sexual assault charges in connection with an incident last year at his Gatineau, Que., home.

As for the RCMP’s move Tuesday to lay charges, it is not clear whether the Crown will proceed by way of summary conviction or indictment, but penalties could range up to a maximum of five years in jail. The detailed documents known as an “information” to swear out charges were not publicly available Tuesday at the Ottawa courthouse.

Michaud said Harb and Brazeau would appear in court “at a later date.”

In previously sworn documents, the RCMP pointed to Senate rules that say living expenses for a “secondary residence” in Ottawa may be claimed only if a senator’s primary residence is more than 100 km outside the national capital region. An audit by Deloitte concluded neither Harb nor Brazeau lived primarily outside Ottawa but suggested Senate rules were “ambiguous.”

A Senate committee disagreed and declared them ineligible to make the expense claims.

Cpl. Greg Horton stated in affidavits he believes neither Harb nor Brazeau were entitled to submit claims for reimbursement by the Senate.

The federal auditor general has now undertaken a full audit of all other senators’ expense claims.

“I think that it’s up to Mr. Harper and Mr. Trudeau to tell us, are there other senators that they’re aware of?” asked MP Charlie Angus Angus, the NDP’s ethics critic, who also called on the federal auditor general to hand names to the police.

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